Although Milwaukee-based Retrospekt has expanded beyond photography equipment and into vintage VHS tapes, gaming, watches and even music, it is best known for its analog cameras and films, especially its Polaroid equipment.
While Retrospekt sells Polaroid films and new cameras, including some with fun collaborations like Barbie, Peanuts, Sanrio and more, Retrospekt also repairs, repairs and sells vintage instant cameras. This is where my path crossed with Retrospekt, as the company was kind enough to send me a refurbished Polaroid SX-70 land camera with 600 film conversion.
Instant photography is immediately fun
This was an exciting experience for me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is because I don’t make films at all. I used a 35mm disposable camera occasionally as a kid in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I’m over a decade removed from the last time I did analog photography.
I’ve never shot with an instant film camera either. When I was a teenager, the instant camera craze hadn’t arrived yet, so I missed the boat on the instant photo revival. Although film is still alive and well today, I came into contact with photography when it was dying. I almost completely missed the film’s first party; until now I have also missed its rebirth.
What it’s like to use a vintage camera in the modern age
As for the SX-70 itself, it’s a legendary folding camera that’s about the size of a mass-market paperback when folded, albeit a lot heavier. It’s stylish, but the magic happens when it undergoes a transformation that would make Optimus Prime green with envy.
With a few quick pulls on the folding viewfinder, the SX-70 comes to life, ready for action. Once opened, users can look through an optical viewfinder and adjust focus and exposure compensation using a pair of dials.
Everything looks and feels so new that it’s easy to think the camera is actually new and not built sometime between 1972 and 1981. Only when you load the film will you see a small Retrospekt sticker in it. Of course, the camera’s sleek packaging bears the Retrospekt name, but the camera itself feels like it was transported from a Polaroid factory through a time machine in the 1970s.
While there is a seductive charm in using an old camera that is practically as good as new, there are a few things that show the camera’s age. The viewfinder isn’t great. It’s difficult to frame and focus, and even when the focus is perfect, it’s a bit blurry. There’s also the lens, a 116mm f/8 glass optic with four elements. Are finebut the image will never be super sharp, even if you lock in focus, which isn’t easy.
But that’s part of the fun. I wish the viewfinder was better, but I’m not convinced that a superior lens would make the SX-70 a better camera overall. There is something to be said for the relative vagueness of the images. If I want something clinically sharp, I have other tools I can use. But if I want to take a photo, hear the hum of an engine, hold an image in my hand and see how it develops from empty space to a photo.
There is one downside to the SX-70 experience. While I believe the $379 price tag for the refurbished camera is reasonable considering the amount of work that goes into bringing old cameras into top shape – plus an extra $50 if you want the 600 film conversion – instant filmmaking is not cheap company in the long term.
Polaroid 600 film costs about $20 per pack, and each pack contains eight shots. I burned a few packs and quickly realized, “Wow, I really need to think about how I use this camera.” For a camera that’s so much fun to use and that would certainly turn heads among friends and family, it’s easy to imagine going through $60 or more worth of film in a very short time. There’s a strange combination between a camera being so fun to use and so expensive to shoot that I have to be careful.
How Retrospekt carefully breathes new life into vintage cameras
While the SX-70 itself is interesting and I enjoyed working with it, I’m even more interested in the discussion of how Retrospekt breathes new life into old cameras and gives them a second chance to make a first impression on photographers .
There is something very special about taking old cameras with worn, broken parts and giving them a new coat of paint that is completely indistinguishable from if I had walked into a camera store in the 1970s to buy a brand new SX-70 . This is a labor of love and expertise.
Retrospekt’s engineers, some of whom have been there since the very beginning, have honed their craft with the help of some original Polaroid team members and old manuals they’ve discovered over the years. In some cases, the team has developed new methods to solve common – and less common – problems and even designed and manufactured entirely new parts.
This is easy to overlook, because ‘refurbishing’ an old camera, whether it’s the SX-70, a Model 230 Packfilm Land Camera, a Polaroid 600 or something else, is so much more than a little cleaning, some metal grease and put the camera in a new box. The cameras need to be taken apart and inspected, and parts that are outright broken or well on the way to failure need to be repaired and replaced. Retrospekt says it takes about a year to train new technicians to refurbish the cameras it sells.
Keeping the past alive
While I love the SX-70 and find the experience a nice distraction from my typical digital photography workflow, I also appreciate that I’m not the first owner of this camera.
Although I will never know exactly where this camera came from, who used it and what photos they took with it, I still feel like I am holding a thread to the past. Someone used this camera to capture the moments that mattered to them, and now I get to do the same.
Revelation: Retrospekt offered me a refurbished SX-70 camera for an indefinite period, plus two packages of Polaroid 600 film. The company did not send the camera in exchange for an article or other reporting, and Retrospekt had no editorial input.
Image credits: Behind the scenes photos courtesy of Retrospekt. All other images by me.